Hollywood Ditches DEI to Avoid Donald Trump's Wrath

Yahoo

04-03-2025

In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery launched its 'Diversity Digest,' a quarterly update on the company's DEI efforts. The first installment highlighted Latino representation in 'Blue Beetle' and home renovation show 'Rico to the Rescue.'
But after regular updates in 2024, the digest went silent after the election of President Trump. Last week, the feature was dropped from the company's DEI page, along with WBD's commitments to equity and diversity outreach, as the company narrowed its focus to 'inclusion.' The move came as Trump has sought to stamp out DEI programs at the federal level and threatened civil and criminal investigations of private companies. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission opened an investigation of Comcast, the parent of NBCUniversal — and MSNBC — for possibly pursuing 'invidious forms of discrimination' under the banner of DEI.
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'Bullying is causing a lot of companies to reassess,' says Vernā Myers, former head of inclusion at Netflix. 'Most smart companies are just trying to figure out how far this is going to go. They're trying to stay out of the crosshairs.'
For its part, a spokesperson for Comcast said the company will cooperate with the FCC to answer their questions, adding, 'for decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers.'
But the Comcast experience isn't one other media conglomerates want to repeat. Among the companies changing their approach to DEI are The Walt Disney Co., which recently announced that it was ending 'Reimagine Tomorrow,' an initiative intended to promote stories from underrepresented communities. And it's not alone. Amazon and, just last week, Paramount and WBD walked back programs that embedded DEI in hiring and promotion practices.
Disney has played an outsize role in the culture wars, so its decision was particularly thrilling for conservatives. America First Legal, which has launched numerous efforts to challenge corporate DEI policies, hailed the move as a major victory.
'Disney has finally backed down after years of treating people differently based on characteristics like race and sex,' says Will Scolinos, counsel for the organization.
For supporters of DEI policies, it was hard to tell if Disney was truly rolling back its efforts or just trying to lay low. Either way, it's clear that the political climate has shifted.
At the recent NAACP Awards, the crowd was still reeling from Trump's victory. Kamala Harris stopped by to offer encouragement, saying, 'This chapter will be written not simply by whoever occupies the Oval Office. The American story will be written by you, written by us — by we the people.'
At the Pasadena Civic Auditorium where the awards ceremony was held, a sense of resolve was tempered with anxiety that the entertainment industry is caving to political pressure.
'Now it's like, 'What are we going to do?'' Laverne Cox, the star of 'Orange is the New Black.' 'Our representatives basically have told us and are showing us that they're working to enrich themselves and corporations, and they can give an F about us.'
For now, Trump is in charge and exerting his power and influence. In the face of federal probes and potential penalties, experts believe the entertainment industry will continue to dial down explicit efforts to diversify its workforce in favor of vaguer goals of promoting inclusivity.
'If companies say they are just making sure that everyone has an even playing field, that's probably OK because the law of the land is you cannot discriminate,' says Jared Slater, a partner at Ervin Cohen & Jessup specializing in labor law. 'If they talk about having a certain percentage of minority talent working on movies or in their executive ranks, they're going to have difficulties.'
Some initiatives are mandated by union contracts, such as the Television Director Development Programs, which were secured by the Directors Guild of America.
But other efforts may prove fleeting. Even before Trump retook power, several high-profile DEI executives left studios in 2023. The inclusion rider, a contractual tool allowing top talent to ensure greater diversity in productions, never drew much buy-in. Only a handful of creatives, such as Michael B. Jordan and Brie Larson, invoked the provision. Some fear the trend away from DEI will accelerate now that Trump has turned it into a dirty word.
'There's going to be a lot of self-censorship,' predicts Joslyn Barnes, a producer and writer on 'Nickel Boys.' 'We're already seeing that — people going to kiss the ring, so to speak.'
Others are confident that companies will continue to recognize that diversity and inclusion are in their long-term interests.
'It's almost impossible for entertainment companies to withdraw holistically from the work of diversity, equity and inclusion,' Myers says. 'There's no way you're going to compete without creating the kind of authentic programming where people feel reflected.'
Stacy Smith of USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative agrees, saying companies have bigger problems than the chaos in Washington: 'It's the audience that the C-suite should fear the most.'
Jenny Maas and Michael Schneider contributed to this report.
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